Efecto tóxico de microcontaminantes acuáticos emergentes sobre microalgas marinas mediante el análisis de biomarcadores de citotoxicida

Abstract

Due to the growing presence of emerging micropollutants in the marine environment, the need to study the potential toxicity of these compounds on aquatic organisms such as microalgae has arisen. These microorganisms are used as indicators of pollution due to their fundamental role as primary producers. This study suggest a methodological approach based on the cytometric analysis, to characterize the alterations produced by different compounds belonging to the main classes of pharmaceuticals and personal care products, on the marine microalga Tetraselmis suecica, and to establish sensitive and fast specific markers of pollution. This green microalga is fast‐growing, easy to culture in the laboratory and widely used in aquaculture as auxiliary culture. All the assayed emerging pollutants, the antibiotics chloramphenicol, florphenicol and oxytetracycline, the pharmaceutical omeprazole, the ultraviolet filter benzophenone‐3, the disinfectant triclosan and the fragrance tonalide, caused physiological alterations in T. suecica. Cell autofluorescence, esterase activity and cytoplasmic membrane potential were the most sensitive parameters, showing significant alterations in the cells after only 24 h of exposure to the pollutants, before being able to detect changes in cell growth or viability of the cultures.